Madhu Koda Scandal: You know you've made your mark in Indian politics when an entire scam is named after you. Madhu Koda, ex-chief minister of Jharkhand, knows the feeling all too well post November 2009's leviathan accusations hurled his way. The charges? It seems the 'good man' had laundered money in the audacious amount of Rs. 4000 crore, not to mention shown a seriously disproportionate income. Five currency counting machines were found at his residence which he promptly used to buy hotels in Thailand, mines in Liberia, companies in Dubai and even more property in countries like Indonesia, Laos and Malaysia to name but a few! He built an empire out of this stolen money and suffice to say that as one of the formative faces in Indian politics at the time, the disgusting level of corruption caused a furore. Thankfully, in a rare show of real justice, the despicable politician has been in jail ever since post several multiple bail pleas' rejection!

2G Spectrum Scam: They've begun to refer to this one as the mother of all scams. It involved the process of allocating unified access serving licenses and the man who took center stage was of course a politician—none other than A Raja, our telecom minister at the time. According to the comptroller and auditor general of India (CAG) the man had evaded norms at every level possible to rake in moolah for himself by offering dubious 2G license awards in 2008 at throw-away prices. What makes it a true political scandal however is the CAG's argument that the Indian government had full authority to allocate these licences through a process of competitive bidding but Raja instead chose to misuse the system for personal gain. Please, somebody tell us a new story. Either way, the issue received massive media coverage, public outrage, saw hugely influential (and previous considered untouchable) businessmen and politicians locked away for their misconduct.

Note For Vote Scandal: This is 'fondly' remembered as India's most ignominious political scandal ever. It took place in 2008 and has even made it to worldwide lists of the worst political scams ever. Here's what went down. Right in the middle of parliamentary discussions, MPs belonging to Samajwadi Party began to wave large bundles of money while still seated in Parliament! They claimed that Manmohan Singh's party had been trying to bribe them and disallow them from voting in favor of BJP. News channels actually had to cut off the live feed due to the despicable airing of dirty laundry in public but the damage had already been done. The entire episode led to one of the biggest rallies between political parties the country has ever seen and as such, it's entirely deserving of a place on this list. Incidentally, a tape covering the bribery was aired in August of 2008 leading to even more political upheaval in a country that could ill afford more.

Political Wiretap Scandal: Reminiscent of the Murdochian privacy-invasion scam as well as Watergate, there was a revelation that government intelligence services had been monitoring the telephone communications of senior political figures. Outlook magazine reported on the same and their findings suggested that both the UPA and Congress had ordered intelligence officers to tap the telephone communications of several politicians. These included the likes of Bihar state's chief minister Nitish Kumar and Minister for agriculture Sharad Pawar. The party also used tapping techniques to investigate the conversations of opposition leaders during vital times such as 2008's no-confidence motion on the Indo-US Nuclear deal.

The Telgi Scam: Introducing Abdul Karim Telgi—master forgery expert, money hungry and ruthless scamster—the man perfected the art of duplicating stamp papers and sold them to banks and other massive institutions. It dug its roots deep and before anyone knew it, the scam had penetrated over 12 states, countless government departments and was estimated to be worth over Rs. 20,000 crore making it one of the most costly scams the country has ever seen. However, more than the money lost was the strong evidence of neck-deep corruption India seemed to be swimming around in as there were obviously a lo of government departments responsible for the production and sale of high security stamps.

Note For Vote Scandal: This is 'fondly' remembered as India's most ignominious political scandal ever. It took place in 2008 and has even made it to worldwide lists of the worst political scams ever. Here's what went down. Right in the middle of parliamentary discussions, MPs belonging to Samajwadi Party began to wave large bundles of money while still seated in Parliament! They claimed that Manmohan Singh's party had been trying to bribe them and disallow them from voting in favor of BJP. News channels actually had to cut off the live feed due to the despicable airing of dirty laundry in public but the damage had already been done. The entire episode led to one of the biggest rallies between political parties the country has ever seen and as such, it's entirely deserving of a place on this list. Incidentally, a tape covering the bribery was aired in August of 2008 leading to even more political upheaval in a country that could ill afford more.